Fierce winds spark fire to 3 Lynden homes, force families out

Windstorm forces 3 Lynden familes to find new places to live after homes burn down

Heavy snow across the region isn’t the only thing that’s hitting home. Fierce winds ripping through Whatcom County have made things downright difficult, if not devastating for some people.

Three different Lynden families have been forced to find a new place to live. Their homes on Noon and Pole Road burnt to the ground early Saturday morning.

Wind snapped trees, brought down power lines, and is doing a lot more damage.

It'a a heartbreaking visit for David Gallegos of Lynden.

“That’s my house over there,” said Gallegos. “It’s hard just to come back to look at all this. There is nothing left. God is willing. We can get through this, we can get through anything.”

Gallegos, his girlfriend and kids managed to escape with just the clothes on their back after their mobile home caught fire.

“It started with ours. That caught fire really quick. Then, the wind picked up and came over here and did a little whirlwind and got the other one on fire -- all three homes on fire,” said Gallegos.

“Wind brought down the tree, which hit the power line. Mother Nature can’t be helped right? It sucks,” said Lacey Scheyleman.

A few miles away, power lines snapped. They’re flapping in the wind as emergency crews keep a close eye and divert traffic.

Power is out to several different blocks around Lynden.

The wind is so intense across Whatcom County.

“It feels like hurricane winds. We had gusts over 60 from my tracking,” said Mark Warren.

He said the fierce winds have created some big headaches.

“I lost sheet metal off our commercial roof here early this morning,” said Warren.

And it’s really made it tough to see in parts of the county.

“I live south of here in middle of several raspberry farms. The dust from the wind is like dust from Arizona. You can hardly see down here,” said Warren. “A lot of visibility issues form just from dust in the farm fields.”

The Gallegos family here is now staying with nearby relatives. Of the three families who lost their homes, only one of them has renter's insurance.